UTC Sheffield Engineering Team Win WorldSkills UK Medal

UTC Sheffield City Centre engineering students have won a medal at a prestigious national competition that aims to develop the next generation of global skills talent.

Five teams from UTC Sheffield City Centre, on Matilda Street, competed in WorldSkills UK in Birmingham.

The competition aims to inspire and equip the next generation with lifelong, world-class skills that the economy needs to help businesses compete on the global stage.

Alex Reynolds, Principal of UTC Sheffield City Centre, said: “I’d like to congratulate all of our students who took part in this year’s WorldSkills UK and thank our employer partners for their support.”

He added: “I’m very proud of our students’ dedication, effort and high level skills. They did really well. The standard was extremely high with our teams competing against those from industry and universities.”

Paul Hayter, 18, and Bradley Ellison, 18, won a bronze medal in the mechatronics engineering category. They were tasked with solving a range of complex automation and mechatronics problems. This involved creating pneumatic and electro pneumatic circuits, PLC programming and machine optimisation.

“Competing at WorldSkills UK is such a great experience. It allows us to apply the mentoring we have had from Siemens and the training at the UTC to real competition time pressures against other very highly skilled teams. The level of competition this year was really high and the tasks challenging, so I am so pleased we were able to win a medal,” said Paul, who has a place at the University of Sheffield. Bradley has gained a degree apprenticeship at SMS Automation in Barnsley.

Two more teams comprising Jack Stubbs, 19, and Paige Hallam, 17, and Daniel Appleton, 17, and Chris Haywood,18, took part in the automation category. In addition, two teams comprising Jamie Dodds, 17, and Devon Slack, 17, and Andrew Deery, 18, and Elise Tully, 17, competed in the industrial control categories.

UTC Sheffield City Centre, on Matilda Street, is Ofsted graded ‘good’ and offers 13 to 19-year-olds GCSEs and A Levels as well as technical qualifications in two specialisms – engineering and advanced manufacturing, and creative and digital media.